“Interoperability across federal and private sector health care providers is among the Federal Electronic Health Record Program’s objectives and getting there is going to take ongoing efforts through collaboration, data sharing and change management, federal leaders said during an industry roundtable last week.
FEHRM is working to implement a single, common federal EHR between the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs as well as their community care providers. Last year, the office launched the joint health information exchange, which was a key step toward interoperability that allows DOD and VA providers to share and access clinical information from private sector providers…”
“Collaboration with federal and industry partners will be key to all these ongoing efforts especially with the interoperability component, said VA Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization Executive Director John Windom.
‘[EHR modernization] is going to be predicated on our ability to partner, team and unite in our efforts toward this common cause,’ Windom said. ‘People want to provide the best care they can. We’re just providing a tool to enhance that care.’…”
“FEHRM is currently working with industry to further streamline data services to make EHR data more accessible. FEHRM Director Bill Tinston noted a 65% connection interface rate with commercial providers and is working to increase that to 99%….”
“’These aren’t technical problems,’ Tinston said. ‘All of these things related to technology are about people, leadership and collaboration. When you look at the role of the modern CIO in large enterprises, their job is to get a common agreement on goals.’…” Read the full article here.
Source: Industry’s Role for Interoperability in Common Health Record – By Sarah Sybert, May 25. GovernmentCIO.
